


Time and Tide and Waiting for the Man

by beggar_always



Category: Psych
Genre: Beaches, Brooding, Community: story_lottery, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 04:52:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2638757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beggar_always/pseuds/beggar_always
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlton goes to his special place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time and Tide and Waiting for the Man

**Author's Note:**

> My Psych rewatch prompted me to pull out my old fic journals. Started writing this one way back in 2009 for a story_lottery prompt, "The Tide." When I reread it, it seemed kinda finished so I just typed it up, fixed a few errors, and here it is.

When he was a child, Carlton Lassiter had spent hours on a nearly daily basis begging to visit the beach. They didn’t live within walking distance, but it wouldn’t have been much of a drive for his mother to drop him off. Apparently, however, the effort was always too much for the woman and Carlton could count on both hands the number of times he’d been taken to the beach as a child; school trips included.

The day he got his driver’s license, Carlton had become a beach bum. Anywhere _not_ his mother’s house was pretty much paradise.

Over the years, Carlton shaped up; got his life together. There wasn’t much room for beach-going in his adulthood. Still, the most peaceful place he knew of was a quiet beach just outside the city.

After a tough case, a rough week, Carlton still found himself there. His suit jacket would be left in the car; his shoes abandoned as soon as he left the pavement. He’d get as close to the water as he could, staying just out of reach of the waves, before he’d sit and stare out at the horizon.

This time, the case had been solved quickly, the week had been average. The only thing that _had_ been wrong was Shawn. And even he had been...wonderful.

\---

Carlton hadn’t expected much out of a relationship with Spencer. He’d known the man three years before the opportunity had even come up, but in that time he’d never seen Shawn manage a relationship. (Not that he’d admit he’d been paying that much attention to the other man…) The point was, the night Carlton let Shawn Spencer into his bed, he’d done so with no expectations. It was a way to relieve tension, acting on the sexual energy that had been building from the first day they’d met.

Six months had passed since that night and Carlton was still welcoming Shawn into his bed, nearly every night in fact. Carlton went into a bit of a panic when he counted back and realized just how long it’d been. He managed to avoid the other man for a week before the Chief brought the “psychic” in on a particularly perplexing case. Shawn had been surprisingly professional. Until the perpetrator was behind bars, anyway. Then Carlton found himself pressed against the wall of a dark interview room.

“What are you doing, Lassie?” Shawn whispered, his mouth close to Carlton’s. Carlton’s heart pounded in his chest as he stood unsure whether Spencer was going to kiss him or punch him. He was surprised when the younger man did neither. He merely pulled back and stared into Carlton’s eyes for a long moment before he smiled an empty smile, turned, and left the room.

That smile had driven Carlton crazy ever since. All through the report-writing and paperwork-filing and the debrief with the Chief. It drove him all the way out to his special beach and his special spot where he sat and tried to figure out what about it bothered him so much.

Shawn was disappointed in him. Carlton had gotten that look from enough people in his life to recognize it. He just hadn’t expected it to mean so much coming from someone like Shawn Spencer.

Up until a week ago, it had just been sex, Carlton thought. (Great sex; sex that made him feel more human than he had since he’d first met Victoria.) But it hadn’t been love; it hadn’t even seemed like _like_ most of the time. So why did that look of disappointment from Shawn mean so much?

\---

Carlton stared down at his bare toes, half-buried in the sand. Three months ago, Shawn had expressed a fondness for those toes. _“They’re just toes, Spencer,”_ Carlton had grumbled, wanting Shawn to focus his attention elsewhere. _“Yeah, but how many people get lucky enough to see Carlton Lassiter kick off his heels?”_ had been Shawn’s response. If Shawn hadn’t proceeded to suck Carlton’s big toe into his mouth, Carlton probably would’ve thought more about that statement.

It was true, though: not many people got to see Lassiter unwind. He was very careful with who got to see that much of him. Defense mechanism, one of the not-completely-worthless counselors had managed to call it. Carlton could go with that; he’d been fucked over in life enough to be aware he had a few walls built up. It was harder to admit how successful Shawn had been at worming his way past nearly all of them.

And Carlton Lassiter, Head Detective of the Santa Barbara Police Department, had taken six months to figure it out.

He wasn’t entirely sure what about the revelation had made him panic; had made him stumble out of Shawn’s apartment at 4 a.m. still buttoning his pants in his rush to get the fuck out. He figured it had something to do with the realization he was feeling the same way he had when he’d realized he was falling in love with Victoria. Pain like the end of that kind of emotion wasn’t something Carlton thought he could handle again. Hence the running out, avoidance, and sitting on a deserted beach halfway wishing a poisonous jellyfish would be carried in on the next wave and take him out of his misery. Carlton groaned and let his head hang when he realized Shawn’s overactive imagination must be catching.

A familiar sigh came from his right and Carlton didn’t bother to look over as he felt someone sit down beside him. Shawn was close enough Carlton could feel the heat of his body, warm at his side.

“You turned your phone off,” Shawn commented after a moment. Carlton lifted his head enough to stare out at the water.

“I never bring it out here,” Carlton admitted softly. It felt a bit surreal, to have someone sitting next to him in the place he came to be alone.

“What if the Chief tries to call you because some tourist needs help finding their lost collie?” 

Carlton turned his head enough to give Shawn a weak glare. “When have we _ever_ had a case that simple?” he asked. Shawn shrugged.

“First time for everything,” Shawn said as he looked out at the water. Carlton stared at the other man’s profile for a moment before he followed Shawn’s gaze out to sea.

“I wasn’t trying to push you away,” Shawn whispered after several minutes of silence between them. “You beat me to it, you know?” Carlton stared down at the sand, halfway to wishing he could bury himself in it.

“I know,” he admitted, very quietly.

“I’ve never pushed you for anything, Lassie…” Carlton barked a laugh at that and gave the other man his best look of incredulity.

“Spencer, from the day we met _all_ you’ve done is push me.” Shawn looked a bit sheepish as he played with a handful of wet sand. Carlton suppressed a sigh and looked away again.

“I’ve never pushed you in this, though,” Shawn eventually whispered. “You set the pace of all of this. Even when you weren’t on top I let you…”

“Shawn!” Carlton interrupted as his face went red. Shawn grinned at him and Carlton smiled back before he could think to stop himself. The smile faded quickly, making Shawn sigh.

“Why’d you run out that night?” Shawn asked as a particularly large wave sent water nearly to their toes. Carlton stayed quiet for a long moment.

“It’s been six months since we first…” Carlton waved a hand between them, feeling awkward.

“Fucked so hard your headboard cracked?” Shawn suggested. Carlton sighed. “You walked out because I didn’t realize my hardcore cop boyfriend wanted me to acknowledge our six month anniversary?” Carlton’s eyes widened as he gaped at him. Had Shawn just called him his _boyfriend_? Shawn rolled his eyes. “Geeze, Lassie. If I’d known you wanted flowers I would’ve stopped by my dad’s house and liberated a few from the garden. I woulda at least…” Carlton leaned over and kissed him. Part of it was just to shut Shawn up; the other was still reeling at the fact Shawn had called him his boyfriend.

Shawn made a brief noise of surprise before he wrapped his arms around Carlton and reciprocated. Deeply.

They broke apart with a mix of curses between them when the next wave attacked their feet. Scrambling to their feet, the two men relocated to a safe distance before facing each other again. With a smirk on his face, Shawn moved in closer to Carlton.

“So - you finally done avoiding me, Lassikins?” he murmured, his arms wrapping around Carlton’s waist.

Carlton felt a smile on his face as he put his own arms around the other man. “I think I could tolerate your presence from time to time,” he agreed.

“I could totally set up a desk next to yours at the station and...mmph!”

Carlton decided he’d have to make a habit of kissing Shawn to shut him up. “Don’t push it, Spencer,” he growled against Shawn’s lips before he covered them again with his own to drown out the inevitable protest.

/end


End file.
